Air pistol, air rifle, and similar weapon



July 7, 1925. 1,545,465

D. v. JOHNSTONE ET AL AIR PISTOL, AIR RIFLE, AND SIMILAR WEAPON Filed March 27. 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 MA MW 0 \K (V w. item, 3 m u fxfm,

July 7, 1925.

1,545,465 D. V. JOHNSTONE ET AL AI R PISTOL, AIR RIFLE, AND SIMILAR WEAPON Filed March 27. 1924 2 Sheets-Sheafi 2 Patented July 7, 1925.

UNITED STATES rA ENT' time.)

noUeLA-s vaUsHAn Jonns'ronn awn .iorinwrnmalvrrnnnn, or BIRMINGHAM; ENGLAND,

AIR PISTOL, AIR RIFLE, AND SIMILARWEABON; I

1 Appiication filed March 27, 1924; Serial No. 702,253.

To all whom it may concern." 7

Be it known that DOUGLAS VAUGHAN JoHNs'roNn and JorrN VVIL IAM FEARN, subjects oi": the King of Great Britain, residing at 81-91 lVeaman Street, Birmingham, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Air Pistols, Air Rifles, and Similar 'VVeapons, or" which the following is a specification.

This invention has reference to; air-pistols, air-rifles, and similar pneumatic weapons of the type in which a hinged barrel is adapted to be used as a lever for cooking the weapon, i. e., for displacing the spring-loaded piston within the airchamber into engagement with the sear of the lock. i

. ,According to the said invention, and with the object of. providing a compact, efiicient and accuratelyshooting weapon capable of being manufactured at a relatively low-cost,

the barrel issuperimposed on, and normally 1 secured in parallel relationship to, the air chamber, and is suitably jointed to the said chamber (or to the body of the weapon) and linked to acocking slide or equivalent device that is displaceable along a slot in the chamber walls for imparting the cocking movement to the air-displacing piston; the arrangement of the barrel, link and cocking-slide mechanism being such that, during the angular movement of the barrel in the cooking direction, the piston will be displaced into engagement with the searo-f the lock, whilst during the reverse movement of the said barrel, the link and slidemake an idle movement relatively to and in dependent of the said piston.

This construction enables an effective cocking leverage to be obtained with a relatively short barrel, and thus-renders the invention particularly applicable to air-pistols.

The cocking-barrel may be jointed'to the air-chamber or body at either its muzzle or breech end, and in the accompanying drawings,

Figures 1 to 11 show,jby way of example, an airpistol constructed in accordance with the inventionin which the barrelelement is jointed at the muzzle end.

Figure 1 of the said drawings is an elevation of such a pistol with the cocking barrel locked in i s normal 9r firing positiOll- Figure 2 is a similar View showingthe barrel at. the end of its cocking stroke.

Figure 3 is a sectional elevation, on a larger scale, of the complete pistol, and shows the arrangement of the cooking mech anism, theconnection between the cooking slide and the air-displacing piston, and the air-passage connections between the airchamber and the breech end ofthe barrel. It also shows the lock and safety mechanism.

Figure is an elevation showing the lock- 7 ing device. or catch used for securing the barrel in its normal position, and

Figurev 5 is a section thereof on the dotted line 55. 7 t i Figure 6 is a section on the line 6-6, Figure 3, showing the connection between the cooking slide and the piston.

t Figure 7 is an elevation of the muzzle end of the pistol," showing the construction of the barrel joint. i r

Figure 8 is an elevation showing the safety bolt which may be associated with the lock mechanism of the pistol.

Figures 9 and 10 are horizontal sectional views further illustrating the safety bolt" arrangement, Figure 9. showingthe bolt in .displaced before it can be turned from the on to the off position, or vice versa.

Figure 11 is a detail view showing the lock mechanism and the safety bolt; the latter being illustrated in its off position whereas in the general view Figure 3 the said bolt is shown in the on position in which it looks the trigger but leaves the sear free to play during the cooking of the weapon. I t

Figure, 12 is a sectional elevation of a modified or alternative construction of air. pistol in which the cocking-barrel is hinged at the breech end of the weapon.

The same letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the said Figures 1 'fitted with a suitable lock mechanism conyen'iently disposed in front of the said handle, whilst internally the said chamber is provided with a spring loaded p ston .22 which, during its firing? troke jchsplaces' air from the rear portion 0, of the chamber through passages 0, communicating with the breech end of the barrel (l. The piston is provided, at or near its opposite ends, with collars or shoulders 6, b of which the former 1;, serves as an engagement for the sear e of the lock when the piston is cooked, whilst the front collar 22 providesan: engagement for a cocking slide f-(see Figchamber and has a lug f extending through aslot 9 cut longitudinally in the front upper part of the saidchamber; The length and disposition of this slot 9 are such that whilst providing for an adequate cooking and return stroke of the slide f, it-is nevertheless always isolated from the rear portion a of the chamber a by the pistonwasher 6 so that air cannot escape by way of the said slot during the firing stroke of the piston. i r

The barrel d is superimposed on and is normally held in parallel relationship tolthe air-chamber as shown in Figures 1 and 3, whilst to provide for its use as a cooking lever, the muzzle end is carried by a swinging bracket h jointed at h to the front of the air-chamber, whilst its breech end en gages an open-topped seating a" of a second but fixed bracket i which is elevated from the rear end of the said chamber-and Where through the air passages 0,5? are formed so that'airdisplaced from the chamber during the'rearward' movement of thepiston is conveyed to the back of, and effects the. discharge of, a pellet or other missile previously inserted in the barrel-breech. A spring catch, such as j is fitted tothe bracket 6 and serves to engage the breech end of the barrel for firmly securing the latter-in its. normal] position but in such a manner that the said breech end can be readily lifted out of its seating i when it is required to load a pellet into the breech or make use of the barrel as a cooking lever.

To maintain an air-tight joint between the barrel breech and the air-passage 0' of the bracket 2', a leather or other compressible washer is located in the said passage 0 and is so disposed that the breech-face of the barrel when closed, makes close Contact with the outer face" of the said; washer as shown in Figure 3.

A- back-sight 70 may be mounted on the rear face of the fixed bracket 2 and the fore.- sight 7c is preferably carried on top of the swinging bracket 71/, whilst to ensure that the barrel shall be. maintained in accurate sighting alignment between its two Supports, the bracket h is of a substantial character and is arranged to fit within,iand beheld against lateral displacement by, an open-' fronted sl'ot k in the air-chamber; a substantial joint-pin also being used to form the bracketpiv0t. This slot 72, is located in the to play on its axis pin.

central plane of the air-chamber and in exact alignment with the similarly-disposed rear seating a" that receivesand positions the breech end of the barrel.

For cocking purposes, the barrel is connected to the cocking slide 7 by a link 70, hinged at its forward end to the barrel and at its; rearward extremity to the slide-lug f; i the arrangement and disposition of this linkures 3 and 6) that is" locatedlinside the age in relation tothe barrel joint being such that when the said barrel is levered or swung upwardly on the said, joint, the slide f is constrained to travel forwardly in the slot g.

Thus if the barrel is so lever-ed when the piston isat-the-rear endof the air-chamber (i. a in its .fired' position) the cooking slide will immediately engage behind the front collar-b of the-said piston and, in traversing the slot 9 as the barrel movement continues, will displace the-piston forwardly until the rear shoulder 6 thereof comes in front of and is engaged by the sear of the-lock mechanism, whereby the said piston is retained in the cooked position, with its actuating spring in compression. -The weapon may then be loaded by placing apellet in the elevated breech end of the barrel, after which the said barrel is restored to its normal position by depressing the breech end into engagement with the rear-bracket seating i, the link meanwhile displacing the cocking slide idly'and rearwardly in the chamber to the position where itwill be re-engaged by the front collar 6 of the piston when the a-rm'is again discharged.

The lock comprises a scar e whose-nose e is adapted to engage the collar Z)" of the piston and whose-tail 6? extends adistance rearwardly of; the sear axis-pin whilst the trigger e is pivoted on an axis-pin disposed 'below and to the rear of the sear-axis, and lia-sa tail c that bears on the underside of the sear-taih'the arrangement being such that on the trigger being pulled, its tail levers upwards the tail of the scar and depresses the nose e which effects discharge of the weapon if the trigger is so pulled when the sear is in engagement with the piston-collar b.

This lock is associated with a safety device which, when applied, prevents move ment of the trigger but leaves the sear free This enables the safety to be put on before the piston is cocked, since the freedom of the sear will allow the nose-end to be depressed asthe collar bridesover the inclined surface 0 of the said nose during the cooking stroke of the piston, whilst after the said collar has passed beyond the said nose, the searspring will lift the front of the sear and engage the nose at the back of the collar as shown in Figure 3,.

The safety device shown in the drawings comprises. a bolt 0 rotatably mounted trans- Ill) versely in the body of the weapon, immediately behind thectail of the trigger.

The bolt has a recess in which the triggertail'plays; at the back of the recess are two flat surfaces 0 ,0 set at anangleto one another as shown in Figures Bandll. The bolt is operated by an external finger-piece and when in the off position, the flats 0 0 behind the bolt-recess 0 are disposed so that they do not impede movement of the trigger (see Figure 11) whereas by turning the bolt into the on position, Figure 3, the flat 0 is brought over the extremity of the trigger-tail and so locks the latter that it cannot be displaced when pulled. p i

To enable the bolt to be positively locked in both its on and oii positions, the said bolt is-so mounted that it can slide transversely to thebody and is influenced by a spring tending to press the same outwards, whilst its outer end is formed with two edge recesses 0, 0 disposed at a suitable angular distance apart and adapted to engage a retaining-piece 0" that is fixed outside the body. The recess 0 engages (by the'outward thrust of the spring 0 the,

retaining piece when the safety is ofi and the other recess 0 similarly engages when the safety is on, whilst to permitof the bolt being turned from one position to the other, it is merely necessary to displace the latter inwards by finger pressure a. suilicient distance to clear the engaging recess from the retaining piece, when the bolt can be turned in the desired direction, and to the necessary extent to bring the other recess into register with the piece 0 the spring automatically re-establishing the look when finger pressure is relieved on completion of the rotational movement of the bolt.

A modified or alternative construction of air-pistol in which the cocking-barrel is hinged at the breech end is shown in sec-- tional elevation in Figure 12.

Here the breech end of the barrel (Z is carried in a stirrup pivoting on the rear bracket "f and is provided, at or near its muzzle end, with a depending piece it which, on the said barrel being closed into its normal position, engages in an open-fronted slot 72 in the forward end of the chamber a and is there retained by aspring catch or fastening j; the piece hbeing made an accurate lit in the slot 72? to prevent lateral play of the barrel anl preserve same in accurate sighting alignment with the breech end.

lVith this breech-jointed barrel, it is advantageous to provide for the cooking of the piston to be etl'eeted during the upward stroke of the said barrel, which necessitates the piston being displaced from front to rear of the air-chamber and the provision of some means for conveying air displaced frorn the front of the said chamber the passages connecting the chamber with the barrel-breech. To realizethis, the slot 9 wherein the cocking slide f travels is formed in'the rear part of the air-chamber and the rear collar b of thepiston serves es the engagement for: the slide during the rearward stroke of the latter, whilstthe front collar b constitutesthe engagement for the lock-sear. Further, to provide for the conveyance of displaced air from the front part of the chamber a to the breech, a. tube m is fixed axially in the said chamber and-formed with ports m atits front end, whilst its rear end is in connection with the passages 0 0' leadingto the breech. Or a passage .nr passages for leading or convey ingi air from front of the chamber to the breech may be formed on the butsideot' the chamber or body as an alternative to using an axial tube m. V i i A pistol of this construction may be loaded by inserting a pellet directly into :thebarrel-breech atterthe cocking stroke of the said barrel has been completed; Q Or loading when the barrel-is closed may be provided for by fitting in therearof the bracket, and in alignment with the barrelbore, a loading hole nor'mally closed loy'a screw'plug awhichcan beremoved to enable a pellet or missile to be inserted into the barrel by way of the said-hole. This plug n may be filll'llShGCl,-2thltS inner end, with a peg or stem whereby a pellet inserted into the entrance rear end 01 the loading hole is pushed home into the breech end of the barrel during the screwing of the said plug into its place.

As an alternative provision for jointing the barrel and loading, the breech end of the said barrel may be furnished with trunnions mounted 111 hearings in a pair of separated lugs or brackets standing above the breech-end oi the air-chamber; and one of these trunnions may be fitted with a rotary loading plug disposed transversely to the barrel axis between the barrelbreech and the air passage leading from the air chan'iber; the pellet-chamber of the said plug being so disposed that, by the actua tion of a suitably-arranged lever or fingerpiece, it can be set to register with a loading aperture in the top of the barrel, or dis posed in alignment with the bore of the barrel. and the air passage. This construction permits of the weapon being loaded when the barrel is closed and secured in its normal position above the air-chamber The application of our invention to airrifles and other pneumatic weapons di'flfers mno essential respect from its application to air-pistols as herein described.

Having described our invention what we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1s '1.- An air-pistol or other pneumatic weapon wherein the hinged barrel, which also serves as the cocking lever,.is"superi1nbarrel: and the spring plunger as to provide for displacement of the said plunger in the cooking direction when the barrel, which normallyis fastened in parallel relationship to the airchamber, is levered upwardly.

3..A pneumatic weapon according to claim 2 in which the air chamber is slotted upon its topside and fitted with a cocking slide-t which the cocking-link is pivoted, andlwhich positively engages the spring plunger during cocking, movement of the barrel.

4. A pneumatic weapon wherein a hinged barrel which also serves as a cocking lever, is jointed to the air-chamber or body of the Weapon, andits breech end is adapted norma-lly' to engage an open-topped seating in the rear of the said chamber or body the back of the said seating being in communication with an air-passage for makingconmotion between the air-chamber and the bore of the barrel.

' 5'. A pneumatic weapon. according to claim 4, wherein the barrel iscarried in a bracket which is pivoted within, and confined: against lateral movement by, an openfronted. clearance formed in: the front of the air-chamber or body; the said clearance being in alignment with the barreltbrecchieaiting at therea-r of the said chamber or o y. p I

61 Lock and safety mechanism, comprising a trigger having a tail engaging under the sear-tail, and a rotatable spring-influenced safety bolt adapted to be-engagcd with the tail of the trigger to prevent movement ofthe latter whilst leaving the sear free or unobstructed, said bolt being slidable transversely to the body of the weapon and provided externally with two recesses. one or other of which engages a fixed retaining piece on-the said body when the bolt is in either its on or 01f position. i 7. A pneumatic weapon according to claim 1-, wherein the barrel-actuated cocking mechanism is adapted-t0 displace the piston within the air-chamber for cocking purposes, and provision is made for conveying air from the head of the said chamber to the bore of the barrel during the air-displacing stroke of the piston.

In testimony whereof they hereunto aflix their signatures. DOUGLAS VAUGHAN J OHNSTON E. JOHN WILLIAM FEARN. 

